tangs eating zoanthids

[mfinn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8180452#post8180452 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by .223NATO
I think if your feeding your tangs well and always keeping algae leafs clipped in your tank then you shouldn't have to many problems.... If they are going after your aoas they are obviously hungry and there's nothing else appatizing to eat. my 2 cents...

I thought that as well. But when I got my last Purple Tang, I feed it every day and made sure that there was something in the clip for it to eat.
But they are natural grazers, They will go about their area and graze on everything.

It seems once they found something as substantual as a colony of zoanthids, it was like a spicey salad bar.

 

[ct_vol]

I'm rethinking the addition of a blue hippo now... Will have to find another grazer... Perhaps I'll just throw in some extra snails... lol

 

[raider77]

I don't think it has anything to do with not feeding enough. My yellow is nice and thick eat's twice a day flake in the a.m. and meaty foods in the p.m. . I think it's like mfinn said natural grazer.

 

[mfinn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8180952#post8180952 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ct_vol
I'm rethinking the addition of a blue hippo now... Will have to find another grazer... Perhaps I'll just throw in some extra snails... lol

I wouldn't want to talk you out of a great fish. Alot of people don't have problems with tangs, but it is always a possiblity that they will at some point start eating them.
I've great luck with different pigmy angels, where others have had problems. So I figure it's a 50/50 crap shoot with em.

But I'm starting to think that the bigger palythoa polyps may be a safer bet with them.

 

[Don Lino]

I have 5 baby hippos, and none of them touch my zoas. Maybe you can get them when they are small and hopefully they will learn...through the years...that Zoas are freinds----not FOOD!!

Or on the other hand, when they get bigger--They plan on wipping my zoas out. Time will tell.

 

[ct_vol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8181098#post8181098 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mfinn
I wouldn't want to talk you out of a great fish. Alot of people don't have problems with tangs, but it is always a possiblity that they will at some point start eating them.
I've great luck with different pigmy angels, where others have had problems. So I figure it's a 50/50 crap shoot with em.

But I'm starting to think that the bigger palythoa polyps may be a safer bet with them.

Well, I have a yellow tang in my 75, and a Kole and Gold Rim Tang in my 135... I was going to get a baby hippo to throw in my Aquapod... But thats where I keep all my treasure zoa's... I wouldn't mind them eating a colony of Fire and Ice or Yellow Polyps, things that grow back fast... But if they got after my PPE's, Armegedons, Armor of Gods, or other equally rare zoos, I would have the overwhelming desire to throw the dang fish in the yard... Not that I would... But you get my drift... We'll see... They're cute little buggers...

 

[mfinn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8185888#post8185888 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Don Lino
I have 5 baby hippos, and none of them touch my zoas. Maybe you can get them when they are small and hopefully they will learn...through the years...that Zoas are freinds----not FOOD!!

Or on the other hand, when they get bigger--They plan on wipping my zoas out. Time will tell.

The hippos are really cool in groups when they are little. I bought 3 that were the size of quarters for $5 each. I keep them in a 10 gallon q-tank for about a month untill I was sure they would live.
I had no problem with mine untill 3-4 years down the road.

 

[Don Lino]

what happened??

 

[mfinn]

I had a huge colony of eagle eyes that was a center piece in a 180. It was the size of a large cantalope.
It was gone almost completely in a single day.
I had a problem with another colony a couple weeks earlier.
I thought it was just me.
This was about 6-7 years ago and not that much was known about zoanthids, atleast amoung the people I knew.
I came home from work one day and I could see the mostly bare rock from across the room and one of the tangs was still picking at it. You could see the really big bellys on them.

 

[Don Lino]

:eek2: :eek2: and these were Hippo Tangs that did this?? Did you cook em??

 

[ct_vol]

Throw'em in the yard... Hmmm, or the sump...

 

[mfinn]

Yep it was the terrible trio.
I tried for months to get them out.
It was a 180 full of corals and rock.
I tried the food in the net thing for a while even tried the fishing line with a tiny barbless hook. The only fish that went after that was my gsm clown.
I finally took the whole tank down just to get them out.
All the rock corals, everything. I traded them in at a lfs. They were very well fed and healthy. I got $60 trade in.

 

[Don Lino]

man, its stories like this that make me skepticle of my 210. Trying to get fish out would be a crazy. $60.?? for what a rock?? maybe one coral??

 

[mfinn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8186456#post8186456 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Don Lino
man, its stories like this that make me shepticle of my 210. Trying to get fish out would be a crazy. $60.?? for what a rock?? maybe one coral??

At least I got something for them. At the time I realized they had destroyed that big colony and a number of others over the years, killing them would have been easy. Something like a bb gun would have worked, if the bb's didn't take off at wild angles when they hit water.:eek1: Not that I would have tried anything that drastic.:mad2:
:uzi:

 

[Don Lino]

LOL, um...me either...Hmmm

 

[Felixc]

I've just started adding Zoanthids to my SPS dominant tank and I thought I share this with you. My tank has over 40 different colonies of sps with 4 tangs, a Sohal, Naso, PB, and Regal. I had these tangs for over a year, then one day, I noticed the tips on some of the colonies were bare bones. I searched but couldn't figure out why, as the colors was vibrant and growth was fine. Then one day I notice my PB tang munching on them, going from colony to colony. Can't explain why it happened as these tangs were fat. My guess is that they were bored and decided to try some new and found a new taste they like. Strange but not impossible. I ended up fish it out and selling to someone.

 

[143gadgets]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8167943#post8167943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jasonj90
i think that tangs will only eat dead/ dying/ decaying zoas. i dont think that tangs go out on patrol looking to devastate peoples healthy colonies. i just recently got an order (2 day shipping) with 3 zoa frags. of the 3 frags, 1 frag arrived a bit ragged compared to the others. my tang kept picking at it removing visibly damaged polyps from the piece. after a few days of pruning, my yellow tang left it alone.

I had this happen with my yellow a week ago.